February 23, 1948 – October 18, 2018
Wayne Shaver was born in Takoma Park, MD, but died on the other coast — Port Townsend, Washington.
After his Air Force service in 1973, Wayne completed an Interdisciplinary B.S. degree at the U of New Mexico. Wayne’s father worked for CIA contractors during the Vietnam era, resulting in many moves through his childhood, including a short stint in Saigon. This might explain a peripatetic adulthood.
After graduation, he worked as a youth counselor, cross-country ski instructor, taught ESL in Finland, joined the U.S. Fire Service in the Bitterroot National Forest, counseled returning Vietnam vets, apprenticed and joined Carpenters’ Local 1319 in Albuquerque, took a Volkswagen mechanic training program, then moved to the Seattle area. He was soon part of a huge project working on the Boeing/McDonald Douglas merger.
But, he was always reading and learning, accumulating thousands of books in his 70 years.
He finally found his dream job on the West Coast at the Stanford Library. Here, he was working with one of the finest literary collections.
However, in 2005, an invitation from a longtime friend on the Pacific Peninsula changed his life forever – it was love at first sight. Port Townsend would become his semi-retirement home. Living frugally, working at Radio Shack for a while, and picking up odd jobs on occasion, Wayne spent long hours at the library, volunteering in the stacks, working every Friends Book Sale, keeping current with the library’s journals and newspapers, and making friends.
But the opportunity to join the Friends’ “boxing and sorting” book donation team was to become a highlight of his quest for the perfect pastime.
He would peruse the “less than perfect” books in boxes destined for Goodwill, and rescue those he thought should be in the Little Free Libraries around Uptown.
Each Tuesday afternoon, the team would sort thousands of donated books into more than 15 categories. If there was a genre/category question, Wayne was the “go to” guy, always erudite and considerate with his recommendation. He was known to take a book home and erase underlines, so it could be included in the Friends Book Sale.
Wayne is survived by siblings: Robert (and Lynn) Shaver; Bonnie Jean Fisher and Roxanne Connan; nieces and nephews: Leigh Ann Shaver; Timothy Wayne Shaver; Elizabeth Jean Murray; and Samuel Connan.
Wayne’s friends are invited to stop by the Library Learning Center/Pink House, Saturday, November 17, between 3 and 5 PM.
Share your Wayne stories and refreshments provided by the Friends of the Port Townsend Library.
Gifts in Wayne’s memory can be made to the Friends of the Port Townsend Library, 1220 Lawrence St., Port Townsend, WA 98368.
